Duo Otra Vez

Yeah, so the trio was fun while it lasted which wasn't for very long. Last night we got calls again from the zone leaders and found out that Elder Unzueta was getting changed to the beaches of Atacames.  We are all super jealous of him, Atacames is one of the coolest parts of the mission and I know he is going to enjoy it. The other part of the news for changes is that there are only going to be 4 of us missionaries here in Quininde. When I started there were six and now we will be four, it is kind of crazy but kind of cool also, because everything that belonged to the other elders is now ours. I really enjoyed my time in a trio, it was super fun and Elder Unzueta was a great companion, I know he is going to work miracles in Atacames and I am excited to continue to see miracles here in Quininde with Elder Delgado. 

So our sector now consists of our old sector as well as the sector of the old elder and it is gigantic. We have soo many people that we need to be visiting and teaching and helping and there just simply isn't enough of us as missionaries or enough time to do it all. SO right now we aren't concentrating as much on finding as much as we are as prioritizing who we are going to teach. We have had to make some drops, not because we don't love the people or because they are bad people, just because we don't have time to visit everyone. We can only be focusing on the people that are most likely to progress. But the sector of the elders is huge and it is like all dirt roads without street names.

So last week when we were working as a trio, we worked mostly in the sector of Elder Unzueta which ended up being a huge miracle because now that he is gone my companion and I have to visit the people he was teaching and our time with Elder Unzueta allowed us to learn a little bit of his sector, but the Bishop is going to help teach the sector with us tonight. Working in a trio we had a lot of visits to do in both sectors and I got to do a lot of splits with the members and it was great.

One of the most spiritual lessons I had in my mission was last night we taught Milton Caughua and his family. Milton was one of those that listened to us in the street that day when we taught a ton of people in the street. Anyways, I didn't recognize him, but he surely recognized us because a couple of days ago we were walking in the street and he found us and told us he wanted us to come to his house and teach him more. FAMILIA DE ORO. they are super awesome. We are so excited to be teaching them, but they have a hard time reading. The majority of the people that I have taught here in Ecuador have difficulties reading and writing especially in my last sector in Otavalo and here in the coast, the majority of the people cant read. So I went on a split last night with the ward mission leader who is a recent convert and we read the introduction of the Book of Mormon to this family and it was powerful. I know the Book of Mormon helps us learn more about Christ and have peace. I love reading the Book of Mormon, I have read it in English, Spanish, and a little bit of Kichwa and I finished reading it again in Spanish this last week and I know without a doubt that it is true. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who promises his holy spirit to us.

Well, something that Elder Holland told us when he came here is that right now the Lord is hastening his work.  He said that back at church headquarters they aren't walking, they are running and I feel like that is the same here in the mission, we aren't walking, we are running from visit to visit, there is just soo much to do. The world needs more missionaries, there aren't enough of us to teach everyone. The mission is the best decision that I have made in my life. I love being a missionary, I love all of you and hope you all have a  great week.

Love Elder Roberts

 Chillin with Elder Larsen, he finishes his mission in 2 weeks with the Zone. 

With the zone

TRIO

Hello world, this week was incredible. It was filled with fun and spiritual experiences. I am really loving the mission and it is just so amazing to be a missionary. My companion and I got a suprise call last night and found out there were changes in our district. Elder Roney went to Quito and now we are with Elder Unzueta in a trio. Elder Unzueta is super cool, he is from Cusco, Peru and I was with him when he started his mission in Otavalo. He knows a lot of Kichwa so we are conversing quite a bit, but for the part of the day we have been in a trio, it has been super fun. I think we should all be together for like 3 weeks and we are going to be working the two sectors here in Quininde. Elder Unzueta is going to help me out training Elder Delgado. But for realz I am so blessed to have such great companions. I feel like these next 3 weeks will be fun with fun experiences and hard work.

We had a super cool experience Monday after we wrote and when we got back to work. My companion and I went to contact a reference in a sketchier part of our sector and they were super interested so we all brought lawn chairs outside and started teaching and we started with a group of like 7 people. As we were teaching the neighbors came to listen and little by little more people came and when we finished there were 35 people listening. It was so cool teaching such a large group of people and they were all reverent and listening well. Since then we have gone back every day and we are seeing some cool miracles in this little part of our sector.

I ran into one of my mamitas from San Roque this last week. It was super awesome seeing her. She was the Relief Society President there in Otavalo and it was cool being able to speak some Kichwa. I found out she is doing well and my family of converts there in Otavalo are super active. Right now the CopaAmerica or like the American Cup for soccer is going on in the U.S. I am not sure how many of you know much about it but here soccer is a huge deal and so is the American Cup. Anyways, Ecuador had its big game this last week against the U.S. on Wednesday and Wednesday everyone was dressed up in their Ecuador jerseys and were just like messing with me in the streets. It was dangerous to be a gringo here especially because the U.S. won and everyone hated me. 

Yesterday we didn't have any investigators in sacrament meeting and that made me sad especially since we had worked so hard and I feel like we did everything that we could to get our investigators to come, but we had an absolute miracle. During priesthood there was a man named Jose Angulo who just walked in. He spent the morning attending different churches seeing how they were and he walked into ours. He enjoyed the experiences here because he said our church is the most reverent. Anyways we visited him last night with the bishop and the elders quorum president out in his plantation which is super far away ( the bishop here is a taxi driver and helps us out with rides.) anyways we had an amazing lesson with him and he accepted a baptismal date, but then we found out he isn't married so his date wont work out until he is married, but hey he has a ton of interest so that is cool.

Well, I love you all, especially you dad, happy fathers day. You are the best! I am so grateful for my dad and the example that he has been. I have learned so much from him just from his example. I am grateful for his infinite love he has for me and how he has been with me during the good and the hard moments of my life. He is filled with wisdom and dad I love you a ton. Have a great week. 

BYE BYE,  Elder Roberts

Una Semana de Reuninones

Well, this last week was super fun, my companion and I saw so many miracles. We prayed and fasted last week to find new people to teach and this week we found a ton of new people, the only difficulty is that none of them are progressing, but every day the Lord is putting a ton of new people in our path. My companion was super happy to see that the Lord had answered our prayers and it is fun seeing him so happy with the Missionary Work.

We had a lot of meetings this week. One of the meetings was a combined zone meeting with our zone and the zone Esmeraldas.  The two zones on the coast.  When I got there I ran into my old companion Elder Quispe. It was so good seeing him. I wasn't sure when the last time I would see him would be, but he is doing super good. He is such a great friend, I will for sure be in contact with him for the rest of my life.

Reunited with my old companion Elder Quispe

I had a cool baptismal experience this week. The Hermanas had a baptism of a woman named Teadora. She is super awesome. I got to do her baptismal interview a while ago and anyways, she is kind of heavy and she wanted the bishop to baptize her, but the bishop isn't that strong in his arms and the sister is kind of big, so before the baptism the bishop was like I cant do this alone, and he asked the sister who she wanted to help out and she said in front of everyone, I want that pretty white boy to baptize me.....she is like 60 years old lol.  Anyways, the bishop did the baptism and I was behind her in the font and helped her get submerged in the water and then I pretty much just lifted her up and it was hard, but cool. 

Me, Teadora, The Bishop

I had a lot of spiritual experiences this week, I learned a lot. the spirit taught me a lot. Yesterday was stake conference and the temple president and his wife from Guyaquil made it up here and they gave some great talks that I don't think I will ever forget.

Well I love you all and hope you have amazing weeks. Take care,

Elder Roberts

Elder Quispe stole my camera, I miss that kid 

 The Zone San Rafael 

The baptism 

The Bishop and I are major amigos

My ingrown toenail that I am going to get taken out on Friday

New Companion

Well, this week was a great week. I got to go up to Quito and it was quite a party. I ran into a ton of old friends here on the mission and it was great being able to spend a little bit of time with them. Thursday came and we all got our new companions fresh from the MTC. The group of new missionaries that came was huge and they were all from Ecuador and Peru. I received Elder Delgado, he is super cool, we are getting along super well. He is from Guayaquil.

On the way back from Quito to Esmeraldas there were eight of us on the bus and the bus driver put in a super inappropriate movie and we got them to change it to the dvd that one of the elders had called Finding Faith in Christ. That was super awesome. The whole bus watched one of our dvds and we were able to talk to some people on the bus.

This week was a special week for me, because it is my companions first week on the mission field. He is super energized to work and is just so excited to be working. He is helping me see all the miracles that the Lord is putting in our path everyday. We are entering into so many houses and finding so many people it is unreal. I think I am learning more from him than he is learning from me. 

Last night we had a really special lesson. We are teaching this 15 year old girl who has been coming to church and coming to baptisms and is looking super hard for an answer to see if this church is true. She gets really uncomfortable every time we bring up baptism, but last night the spirit was really present in our lesson and we were able to get her to accept a baptismal date for this upcoming 18th. It is amazing how the spirit can enter into the hearts of everyone.

Well, I am looking forward to this upcoming week, when we work hard that is when we see the miracles. I hope you all have a great week. I love you all and love hearing how you are doing. Keep on writing me. 

Love, Elder Roberts

 We got the bus to put in the movie Finding Faith in Christ #winning

 Elder Delgado swagging out in the house

My son Elder Delgado and I partying